Artwork and Perspex

I received the perspex (4.5mm tinted) the other day and got stuck into printing the artwork and instruction cards to be placed underneath it on the bezel.
I decided on the Space Invaders alien , Donkey Kong , and a Galaga Bug , as the artwork , as i think they are probably the most recognized ones , and I didn't want the area too cluttered with artwork.

Luckily the perspex was cut to the right size, so i had no problems there. (Had a little bit of fiddling around when I was installing the perspex for the marquee - it wasnt cut to the right size)


Now the machine is almost completed.
I just have to secure the lid of the control panel, as it moves a little when playing.

Press the button

Just a small update today , had a few hours to kill stuck inside with the rain pouring down today, so I decided to finish off the navigation buttons.

I had to pull them apart and get the blue diffuser piece and use that to use as the template to cut out the paper with the labels on it. I used glossy photo paper , as that seemed to diffuse the light evenly and still keeps the LEDs bright.
You just cant notice it that well in the pics , tho. :|

All Systems GO !

I have nearly come to the end of the construction of the cabinet. Theres only the matter of putting the volume knob of the speakers somewhere handy to access , and the perspex over the monitor screen.
To begin with , I had Win98 as the operating system , but decided to change it to XP. That brought a few driver issue problems, but I finally got everything sorted out.

I have installed a Sega MegaDrive emulator as well, and currently have about 20 or games for that. A few old memories there .... :) Still have to get a few more into that collection soon.

I have configured Mala to be totally controlled from the control panel joysticks and buttons, which is handy when you are trying to find a game in the MAME list - which is pretty big.

Done and Dusted

I managed to finish the control panel this weekend. I had to rout the edges of it to be ready for the t-moulding , and stick the overlay down before i could start on the big task of wiring up all the buttons.
The wiring seemed to go on forever, but I managed to get it all done sunday morning. A few of the wires that lit up the navigation buttons had to be re-done - that had me stumped for a little while.

So its all working well now. The games can all be started , and exited from , by using the triangle buttons , and theres no need to open the keyboard drawer.






Next I just have to print labels to go inside the blue buttons, and some arcade graphics for around the monitor bezel.

Control Panel work started

Well , I've started on the control panel today. I recieved the buttons and wiring from Ozstick the other day. Ive gone for a 2-player design , with navigation buttons in the middle for getting around the frontend , and selecting games.


Tomorrow I will rout the edges for the t-moulding and stick down the overlay, then the fun job of wiring up all the buttons.

Marquee

I recieved the marquee in the mail the other day , and the perspex arrived as well.
After putting it in place , I found that theres a bit of light bleeding through on both sides. I have some plastic that will fix that tho. So if im feeling better i might do that thisarvo.

More stuff done ...

Ive decided to fill in the area between the monitor screen and the bezel with black cardboard , as you can see into the cab from where you would stand when playing on the full size control panel. Its not noticeable from directly straight on as I'm just using my old joystick atm.

Ive installed the flouro light inside the marquee area , just waiting on the marquee to arrive early next week. That will be fitted using 2 clear pieces of perspex - they should arrive later in the week.

Work on the control panel has started. I took the wood to work with me the other night and cut the pieces up to size. Its assembled now, and having its first coat of primer done later today.